Apparatus and method of calendering rubber



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APPARATUS AND METHOD oF CALENDERING RUBBER.

APPLICATION FII .ED JUNE I3, 1921.

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RMIWIIHVIII Ulli /7 M 0 A INVENTOR f JOSE/DH 5. @A1/0,202

ATTORN entre@ stares' Parent carica.;

eosnrn s. ewoznz, orcnrcornn rants, raassaenusnrra v"assiettes, 'ro 'rmrrsn arianna COMPANY, or cmcoran FALLS, MASSACHUSETTS, a conroaarron orMASSACHUSETTS.

APPARATUS AND METHOD F CLENDERENG RUBBM.

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Speciicaton of Letters Patent.

" Patent-eci aan. s, ieee..

.application mea :une 1a, 1921. serial no'. 476,974.

To aZZ whom t may concern:

citizen of the United States of America, re-

siding at Chicopee Falls, in thecounty of Hampden and State ofMassachusetts, have invented certain` new and useful improvements invApparatus and Method of Calenderin Rubber, of which the following is aspec cation.

My invention relates toimprovexnents in calendering and sheeting rubberstock and cutting the stock into a plurality of strips o f definitewidths. The object of my inventlon is to improve the eiiici'ency ofcalenders of this type, to preserve the condition of the rubber stockduring periods of adjustment of the strip cutting devices, and togreatly increase the output for a given installation.

The manner in which these objects are accomplished, as well asadditional objects, will appear from the description of the in ventionwhich will now be given in connection with the accompanying drawings, inwhich, l

Fig. 1 is a transverse section through a calender adapted for use withmy invention, taken on line 1-1 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a front viewof the same, lookingrfrom the left 4in 1;

1g. 3 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the method of operating thecalender during the period of adjustment of the knives;

Fig. 4 is a detall of the knives; and

Fig. 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

have illustrated a calenderA havingthree rolls 10,11 and 12, which mayhave the usual steam and water connections for regulating theirtemperature. l-These connections, not forming part of my invention, havenot been illustrated. These rolls arejournaled in a frame 13, the middleroll 11 v'having lined bearings, while the upper roll 1() has itsbearings in blocks 14 controlled as by a screw and hand wheel 15, andthe lower roll 12 has its bearings in blocks 16 controlled as by a screwand hand wheel 17. The shaft of the center roll 11 carries a gear 18driven from a pinion 19 on the shaft of a motor 20. The center roll 11and the bottom roll 12 are connected by gearing 21 so that they rotatein opposite directions at the same peripheral speed, and the center roll11 and the top roll arel connected by gearing 22 so that they rotate-nopposite directions with the top roll rotating referably at abouttwo-thirds the periphera speed of the center roll.

The. Stock is sheeted between rolls 10 and 11 from a feed r bank 23 intoa wide sheet 24, and the latter is severed into strips 25 ofl thedesired widths by knives 26. Each knife 26 is secured in a holder 27freely rotatable about a bushing 28 Aand held against axial movementthereon by a flange 29 on onesend of the bushing and a \collar 3()screwed onto the other-end. The series of bushin s supporting the knivesare clamped indivi ua'lly, as by setscrews 31, upon a shaft 32 runningtransversely oo f the Vma-l chine.` The knives are individually. urged,

yieldingly against the calender roll by elastic bands 33 passing aroundthe knives abovev the holder and looped over pins 34 on a bar 35. Bydisconnecting a band 334 from its l pin 34 the knife to-which it isconnected may be lswung from the active positions'hown in fullplines inFi 4 to the position shown in dotted linesI without 'disturbing thelongi-Q tudinal adjustment of the knives. AThev strips 25 passaroundroll 12 (which is acljusted so as not to press the rubber stock .againstroll 11) andare wound up on takeof spools 36 (the core ofwhichds mounted'to slide on upwardly slanting shelves as indicated) .together with asuitable hner sup- -joins the feed or bank 23.

' I am aware that calenders have previously been operated bysheetingcstock between the two upper rolls of av three roll calender,cutting it into strips on the mlddle roll, and winding up the cut stripsafter passing them around the bottom roll. But in these prlor methods ofoperating calenders vmuch tune was lost, particularly in changing fromone kind of rubber stock to another, and 1n adjusting a large number ofknives from one width of stripv to another across the whole face of thecalender or Such a large part ofit as to materially interfere withtaking o enough rubber from the calender 1n desired form to keep thebank or feed'of rubber in good condition. 1f the same 'stock isrepeatedly run around and between calender rolls it becomes too greatlyheated for, proper v lll calender-ing, it tends to Scorch or partiallycure with certain types of compounds, and tends to lse its fibrousstrength giving structure. f course if minor intermittent `adjustmentsof the knives are necessary'in the prior methods there yis no difficultyin making them. The diiliculties in the prior art which my inventionavoids arise only when it is necessary or desirable to make a majorchange in the calendering operations of my invention which I will nowdescribe.

Iwidth can graduall merge with the I have discovered that if stock isdrawn off from one side of a calender the stock from the other side,instead of going around and around on its own side, will commingle withthe stock on the whole width of the calender and will gradually moveover to thel sidev from which the rubber is being drawn oil'. The stockwill therefore not remain on the calender for a sufficient length oftime to be injured. In order to apply this principle to a calender suchasis described above, I employ a relatively wide calender and arrangethe knives andwindup spools in two sets A and B longitudinally of thecalender rolls. In the normal operation of the calender both sides are1n operation, as shown in Fig. 2, that figure illustrating the two sidesas delivering strips of different Widths althoughof course strips of thesame be made if desired. If now it is desired to change the width ofstock that is being delivered on one side of the calender, the side Bfor example, the calender is kept running and delivery of stock kept upfrom side A. The strips 25 that were passing around the lower roll onside B are severed and led around the middle roll back -into the feed ofrubber. The knives on side B may now be adjusted, or some of them thrownout of operation, until the strips that are passing around the middleroll on this side are of the widths desired. The strips are now severedfrom the sheet passing around the middle roll and again started aroundthe bottom roll. During this period of adjustment the stock on side Bwill j stock being delivered rom side Aso that it will not remain on thecalender for a long enou h period to become injured. During this sustant'ial number of adjustments the calender continues to deliver itsproduct in useful form in a substantial proportion of its full vcapacityand no useless stock needs to be wound up with the'lin'eron the`take-olf roll Laoaieo as would be the case if the knives and takeoldevices were not arranged and placed in operation by corresponding sets.

I n changing from one compound to another a somewhat similar process maybe employed. When the nature ofthe stock is changed the widths of stripsdelivered are usually also changed. In ys uch a case the delivery ofstock from the calender is restricted to one side, as A, and the kniveson ,side B' areset'to give the new widths of stock. Ater the setting ofthe knives is completed the stock is allowed to run out and a new batchstarted. Side B is ready to commence the delivery of the new stockimmediately and keeps lthe new batch of stock in condition during theadjustment of theknives on side A. Theplan of changing the stock run canof course be followed by starting on either side A or B and the calenderarrangement is thus made more flexible' and susceptible to a morecontinuous calender operationv all with benefit to the stock being runby the calender. j

Having thus described my invention', I claim: 1

l.` A calender of the type having' two ,rolls between which rubber issheeted, knives ad-4 justablj,v arranged adjacent the second roll andadapted to cut the Astock into a plurality' of strips, a third rollaround which the strips are delivered, and means for receiving the cutstrips from this roll;` characterized by the arrangement of the knivesand receiving means in 'a plurality ofsets longitudinally 0f thecalender rolls, and constructed and.

arranged for operation either simultaneously or independently, wherebythe rubber may be maintained in condition during the period while oneset of knives is being ad justed.

2. An apparatus for sheeting and cutting rubber on a calender comprisinga calender of the type having two rolls operable at dlfferent speeds andbetween which the rubber is sheeted out of a rubber-bank in a bight ofthe rolls, two sets of adjustable cutting devices and calender take-offdevices operable independently or simultaneously to take off the cut andcalendered sheeted rubber strips fed from the whole width of said rub-'ber bank whereby the calender may continue its operations during anadjustment of the cutting or takeoff devices or a change in the bank ofrubber in the bight of the rolls without injury to thev rubber.

3. An apparatus for sheeting and cutting rubber on a calender comprisinga calender of the type having two rollsoperable to sheet rubber betweenthem from the whole width of a bank of rubber in the bght -of therolls,two sets of adjustable-strip cutting knives operable across theface of the calenderedV sheet together or independently and a calendertake-0E device for' each 'set incenso of knives operable when its set ofknives is Jperated7 the respective sets of knives and take-ori" devicesbeing operable together or independently of each other, all constructedand arranged to feed rubber from the Whole width of the bank of rubberWhenever either or both sets of knives is in operation, ofor the purposedescribed.

4i. A11 apparatus for sheeting and cutting rubber on a calendercomprising a calender of the type having ytvvo rolls operable at different speeds and between which the rubber is sheeted out of a rubberbank or feed in the bight of the rolls, a series of adjustable cuttingdevice operable across the face of the calender roll on the sheet ofrubber and two calender take-off devices operable simultaneously orindependently to take o enough rubber strips cut from the sheet toprevent excessive reworking of the rubber between the rolls, allconstructed and arranged so that major changes in the calender operationcan be eected by alternating the operation of the two calender take-oli'devlces during such changes while continuing the operation of thecalender.

5. The method of operating calendars upon which the rubber is sheetedand cut into strips, comprising providing two sets of cutting anddelivering instrumentalities spaced longitudinally of 'the calenderrolls, restricting the delivery of stock to'one set While supplyingstock in a feed the Width of both sets,fadjusting the cutting means ofthe second set While the delivery is so restricted, and resuming thedelivery of rubber strips from the second set after the adjustmenthasbeen completed.

Josnrn s. ewoznal

